Downtown

Beth studied art at the California College of Art in Oakland. She’s currently an artist in residence at KALA Art Institute here in Berkeley. She does printmaking, video, and digital arts at the studio Kala, as well as at her own studio.

My first thoughts about the project were to reflect on what happens in downtown Berkeley. What does an ordinary day look like? So I spent some time loitering around the area where my box was going to be. I just observed for a while. I took photos of people passing by, as well as interesting aspects of the sidewalks and streets. The sidewalks on Addison are particularly interesting because they are part of the arts district. I definitely wanted to include that in the artwork, even though it may not be particularly noticeable.

I considered including the cars going by, but left them out. What is so great about urban areas is that you can walk everywhere, or as many do, ride a bike. When you look at the box, you can see patterns from the sidewalks and streets as well as pedestrians walking in to and out of the scenes. The dog is just an observer watching the humans come and go…so the idea is about, walking, biking and just being in downtown Berkeley. The images are collages of my impressions of the corner of Shattuck and Addison and, like a pebble dropped in water, the expanding circles move out into the community.